You’re enjoying a lush door-stopper fantasy series and all the lavish descriptions therein, and then there’s a banquet scene, and all of a sudden you’re overcome with a huge craving for Stewed Salamander or Roast Phoenix, only to discover that such a thing does not exist.
Luckily, you’re not alone. Over the weekend, Reddit user u/vannybros alerted fans to the existence of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and asked what other fantasy cookbooks they’d like to see.—and the response was overwhelming! It seems like there’s a great hankering among us for lembas bread, oat farls, scone of stone, Otik’s Spiced Fried Potatoes, and, yes, even Luke’s blue milk.
Here are our favorite suggestions from the thread, including cookbooks that actually exist, recipes from fans, and fantasy cookbooks that are (thus far) just wishful thinking.
SFF Cookbooks That Exist in the Real World
The Lord of the Rings
- An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery, by Chris-Rachael Oseland (suggested by u/honestyblackfield)
- Cooking for Halflings and Monsters, by Astrid Tuttle Winegar (suggested by u/shennanigins)
Redwall
- The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques (suggested by u/-Miss_Information-)
Discworld
- Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs, and Tina Hannan (suggested by u/AliceMadder, u/Madikor, and u/ImJustaNJrefugee)
A Song of Ice and Fire
- A Feast of Ice and Fire, by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer (suggested by u/Chyld and u/Artistic License)
- Game of Scones: All Men Must Dine by Jammy Lannister (suggested by u/just_keeptrying)
Dragonlance
- Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis (suggested by u/TheRealMarklar)
Star Trek
- Star Trek Cookbook by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes (suggested by u/Poison_the_Phil)
Aubrey/Maturin series
- Lobscouse and Spotted Dog by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas (suggested by u/Rosmucman)
Star Wars
- Wookiee Cookies: A Star Wars Cookbook by Robin Davis (suggested by u/Techelife)
The Hunger Games
- The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook by Emily Ansara Baines (suggested by u/Kaseiopeia)
SFF-inspired Recipes and Other Links From Fans
From u/Jadis4742:
My sister and I planned a May The Fourth themed party once, but real life (and food allergies) have this awful habit of getting in the way. But here’s a picture of my ryschcate (spice cake with walnuts) with a mynock strip (candied bacon). I’m really close to finalizing the ryschcate (the cake I made after this one was darker and more moist) but I have to adjust the flour mix. Again.
Other recipes I’m finalizing are:
Colo Claw
Fizzy Protein Cubes
Bantha Platter
The blue milk was just gonna be almond milk dyed blue, although now I’m thinking I might experiment with butterfly pea flower and maybe do a cocktail.
From u/kbennett73:
The Inn at the Crossroads is a web site that originally featured recipes for dishes described in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. The authors wrote The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook. They later went on to write World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook, Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook, Elder Scrolls Cookbook, and several others.
Their blog is filled with free recipes inspired by a wide range of fantasy and science fiction series like Harry Potter, The Witcher, Interstellar, Hearthstone, and Star Wars.
From u/TheDreadPirateNacho, the Fellowship of Middle-Earth’s online compendium of Middle-earth Recipes, compiled by MithrandirCQ and Primula.
SFF Cookbooks We Wish Were Real
- Studio Ghibli (“That food looks delicious. EVEN the buffet in Spirited Away. I’d put those pigs to shame.” –u/velifer)
- Tamora Pierce’s various fantasy series (“…especially the foods from the Summersea/Circle of Magic quartets. Some of the stuff she describes sounds straight out of a Miyazaki movie.” –u/SwingGirlAtHeart)
- Dune (“especially for the Fremen fare” –u/HipsterGalt)
- The Dresden Files (But really all u/BearlyHereatAll wants is “a steak sandwich and a beer from McAnally’s”)
- Shrek (Says u/theknightlynews: “duh”)
- Winne-the-Pooh (There actually is one, but as u/surle says, it really only needs “One page. One word.”)
- The Stormlight Archive (“A lot of spicy recipes in there.” –u/wojic)
Hey wait, we can actually help here! Check out our series on Cosmere Cuisine for some fan created recipes from the worlds of Brandon Sanderson.
- The Gentleman Bastards series (“Every single meal in those books sound delicious!” –u/Nonninz)
What SFF recipes have you tried, and which do you wish had a real-world guide?
There’s a SUPERNATURAL cookbook just out although no healthy sane person would want the recipe for Mary’s “Winchester Surprise” casserole.
I have several of Insight’s licensed cookbooks (https://insighteditions.com/product-category/cooking/), and they are legit. I especially recommend Monroe-Cassel. Her WOW and Elder Scrolls cookbooks have never ceased to provide a great result.
Back in the late 70s/early 80s the Hildebrandt brothers and their wives collaborated on a Middle Earth cookbook. The recipes were written by their wives and the brothers lavishly illustrated the interior. I have it and would gladly give more info except I moved recently and don’t know what box it’s in…
Of course there are ones they might not like to see, such as ‘To Serve Man’.
The food in Diane Duane’s Middle Kingdoms series is mouthwatering, particularly the pork dishes. She and Peter Morwood do run a recipe site, though.
The Chronicles of Narnia, of course (see No Reservations: Narnia). Ma Kosti’s maple ambrosia from the Vorkosiverse, despite its origin. And there’s a lot of interesting food in Julian May’s Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu series.
I once tried making klah from The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern but it wasn’t terribly enthralling.
I want a good recipe for the buttery Maize Buttons from the Liaden Universe.
A Doctor Chef cookbook from the Wayfarers series would be great. I would love a soothing cup of mek at the end of a long day.